Blogging Flashback: Boot Camp (2007)

Unrated, 1 hr. 39 min. Directed by: Christian Duguay. Release Date: Nov 01, 2007. DVD Release Date: Aug 25, 2009.

****REPOSTED FROM THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH NEW EDITS AND COMMENTS****

Engaging, eager to use what passes for its 'star power', and fast-paced. A mildly successful, post-modern Lord of the Flies. 

With a few minor exceptions, I think this is a pretty decent set-up in terms of story line and flow. I basically really enjoyed this movie, although it is not what could be called a "great movie". Mila Kunis is better than usual here, and the role really works for her for the most part.  For the first time, I really wanted to see more of her (as in time on screen and not more of her without clothing).  

Mila Kunis still struggles to match her accent to those you might expect coming from someone with her characters' background. I didn't buy that any parent, even the winners you see portrayed here, would be okay with signing over two years of their children's lives with no say as to how those two years were run out. I guess these camps exist, but it just feels off.  Considering she's ESL, her ability to have cobbled together something within the acceptable range for "American" accents is very impressive... but her accent doesn't exactly scream upper-class girl from west of the Rockies.

There are a few bits of nastiness here, and I'd struggle to list them all without giving up more than a bit of the story.

Blogging Flashback: Echelon Conspiracy (2009)

PG-13, 1 hr. 46 min. Directed by: Greg Marcks. Release Date: Feb 27, 2009. DVD Release Date: Jul 21, 2009.

****REPOSTED FROM THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH NEW EDITS AND COMMENTS****

The movie is a little like genetic cloning: the copy of a bad movie makes for an even worse movie.

Ving Rhames was clearly the best thing about this movie… and I NEVER thought I'd be saying that. It should also tell you to what extents this movie sank. He really did make the most of a poorly written and directed role.

Nearly every aspect of this film bordered on sucktastic. First, they chose a storyline nearly identical to the summer blockbuster Eagle Eye, but provided none of that stinker's few charms. The acting was weak from all parties, the direction was nonexistent at the best of times. Even the special effects and "spy" tech was ridiculously lame.

Watching the car sandwich form was amazingly gruesome, and was likely the highlight of the film, even though it was mildly horrific to see.

Blogging Flashback: Nothing But the Truth (2008)

R, 1 hr. 48 min. Directed by: Rob Lurie. Release Date: Sep 08, 2008. DVD Release Date: Apr 28, 2009.

 

****REPOSTED FROM THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH NEW EDITS AND COMMENTS****

An unprecedented (and much needed) look at the use and abuse of the First Amendment and journalism ethics.

I'm going to get a little political here, but I really liked the ins-and-outs of the big moral issues here, the first being the abuse of the First Amendment by both the government and journalism. I like that there wasn't even the pretense that the First Amendment offers carte blanche protections, because it doesn't… and in this case, I'm not inclined to side with the reporter, since she knew she was trafficking in illegally obtained info. I also like that the wider ramifications of this decision were shown, and it didn't just gripe about her being tossed in the pokey… because occasionally when classified or privileged information is released to the public, it does something OTHER than just embarrass the people involved. 

Journalism ethics. Generally, I think the terms are mutually exclusive, but when everything's cleared up at the end here, I can't say that the best decisions weren't made. People got hurt, and some bad stuff happened, but that's part and parcel of every ethical decision. 

Other than that, this movie is pretty characterized by a great cast with the notable exception of David Schwimmer. I'm adding a heroin habit for him on my Christmas list even as I type this.

If you aren't inclined to get cerebral on film, this movie would have been more boring than words can express. For about twenty seconds, I had to watch David Schwimmer mate. If I actually did rate movies (I didn't when this was originally written), it would have dropped the score a whole point.

Blogging Flashback: My Sassy Girl (2008)

PG-13, 1 hr. 32 min. Directed by: Yann Samuell. Release Date: Jun 04, 2008. DVD Release Date: Aug 26, 2008.

****REPOSTED FROM THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH NEW EDITS AND COMMENTS****

Love it or hate it, it's hard to pick. It's complicated and hard to follow, but touching nonetheless.

At times, I think that the director chose to film the movie with a camera tainted by Elisa Cuthbert's bipolar grief. More than once I found myself backing up the DVD and re-watching a chapter of the film because I couldn't figure out why events had gone the way they had. Usually, I call that bad filmmaking, but today I'm going to lean towards it being an intentional reinforcement of exactly how messed up Cuthbert's character really was.

The film tends to drag a bit, and I think that's because there's SO much back story that isn't told until the very end of the movie. The ending of this movie really solves all of the problems I have, but I've never found myself in a situation where there's such a preponderance of strange events happening where I would have stuck around for almost two years. Only two characters, Jordan Roark and her father, are aware of all the details, but everyone you meet in the film is interrelated through a series of events, some of which happen off camera. And while it's obvious that Jordan's hiding something... I wasn't able to figure out why, so I give them props for not making a predictable, cookie cutter romance. 

The romance between Cuthbert and Jesse Bradford is a bit strange and felt a bit like an anachronism. It's not many men in this time and age that would spend six months or more seeing a single woman without so much as a kiss. But, once upon a time, that wouldn't have been so uncommon.

Blogging Flashback: Stop-Loss (2008)

R, 1 hr. 53 min. Directed by: Kimberly Peirce. Release Date: Mar 13, 2008. DVD Release Date: Jul 08, 2008. 

A flawed premise that has remarkable depths in probing the emotional state of our soldiers at home and overseas.

****REPOSTED FROM THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH NEW EDITS AND COMMENTS****

I was set to hate this movie. I still think the premise is a poorly-aimed and more poorly-crafted shot at the policies enacted during the Global War on Terror. Stop loss is a part of every military contract, I'm assuming since the draft was done away with. It is spelled out under which circumstances and for how long your exit from the military can be delayed. For my contract, I could have been stop-lossed for up to 18 months during any armed conflict.

The creators of this film just didn't get the basic facts. It is impossible that the circumstances of his conflict specified that stop loss could only be set on his job field under time of "war" since the U.S. hasn't declared war officially since World War II. Stop loss is not a revolving door set to trap the bottom 10%, as The Onion might put it. It's a temporary measure, and since military recruiting is WAY up, it doesn't last very long. In my case, my job rate was stop-lossed for eight months in 2002.

Despite its flawed premise, Stop-Loss is a worthy exploration of the emotional and psychological damage inflicted on our soldiers during war time. It also highlights, without expressly doing so, the meager care provided our servicemembers upon their release and the lack of preparation that our government gives the families of people returning home from war time conditions.

While the acting is occasionally overly melodramatic, it was surprisingly good. Most of the cast

is made up of people I tend to think get roles because of what they look like, but I didn't even think Channing Tatum resembled a well-carved tree stump in this. The parts of the story not overly flavored with shots at government policies are emotional and occasionally heart wrenching. And the end of the day, this is another reminder of how much the men and women who serve our country sacrifice so that we can continue our way of life unimpeded.